Richard Bell was born in Cookstown, and at the outbreak of the First World War he was living and working in Glasgow. He enlisted in Glasgow with the 10th Battalion Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). In July 1917 Richard was seriously wounded and taken to hospital in Etaples. It had been hoped to get him to hospital in England but by the time of his arrival at Etaples he was considered too ill to travel. He died there on 22nd July 1917.

Étaples is a town about 27 kilometres south of Boulogne. The Military Cemetery is to the north of the town, on the west side of the road to Boulogne. During the First World War, the area around Étaples was the scene of immense concentrations of Commonwealth reinforcement camps and hospitals. It was remote from attack, except from aircraft, and accessible by railway from both the northern or the southern battlefields. In 1917, 100,000 troops were camped among the sand dunes and the hospitals, which included eleven general, one stationary, four Red Cross hospitals and a convalescent depot, could deal with 22,000 wounded or sick. In September 1919, ten months after the Armistice, three hospitals and the Q.M.A.A.C. convalescent depot remained.